Pietersen, Mascarenhas fined by the ECB

England cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Dimitri Mascarenhas was fined for their foul-mouthed Tweeting on Tuesday by the England Cricket Board(ECB).

Pietersen was fined an undisclosed amount following an ECB disciplinary meeting at Lord's, and Hampshire have acted swiftly to force their captain Dimitri Mascarenhas to pay £1,000.

Pietersen had revealed last week that he was to be dropped from England's limited-overs squad to face Pakistan, several hours before the list of names was officially announced by the selectors for the limited over series to face Pakistan

He told followers of his Twitter feed: "Done for rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20, and dropped from the T20 side too.

"It's a f***-up ..."

Pietersen's uncouth faux pas followed a similar one in July from former England Under-19s captain Azeem Rafiq, who was fined £500 and banned from all cricket for a month.

It preceded a third unfortunate Tweet on Monday from Mascarenhas, whose followers received a rant from the ex-England all-rounder about national selector Geoff Miller.

An ECB statement read: "The hearing considered two charges against Kevin Pietersen relating to recent comments made on Twitter following his omission from England's one-day squad for the NatWest Series against Pakistan.

"Pietersen pleaded guilty to both charges and offered an unreserved apology to ECB and the England team management for his actions.

"The hearing considered his comments to be prejudicial to the interests of Team England and ECB and a significant breach of the England player conditions of employment.

"He has been fined an undisclosed sum in accordance with the terms and conditions of his England central contract."

The punishment for Mascarenhas - currently out with a long-term injury - was announced by Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove, shortly after Pietersen had been slapped with the fine.

"Having had the incident brought to my attention by the ECB, I discussed the circumstances overnight with team manager Giles White," Bransgrove said.

"As a result, I met with Dimitri Mascarenhas and formally censured him - imposing a fine of £1000. The fine has been set at this high level, because I feel there is little point in imposing a ban, given the long-term nature of his injury. In coming to this conclusion, I have taken into consideration Dimi's previous exemplary record.""However, as club captain, he understands his actions carry more responsibility than others'.

"Hampshire Cricket regrets the entire incident which, although thoroughly out of character for Dimitri Mascarenhas, breaches the club's code of conduct.

"Further, it will be a warning to all players about the dangers of conducting personal or private dialogue on publicly-available media."

Mascarenhas admitted that his actions were stupid and he said he would personally apologise to Miller for his remarks.

Mascarenhas added in the same Hampshire press release: "I realise that my actions were stupid and irresponsible and I regret any offence I may have caused.